the final. Third place play-off On 10 July 2010, at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, Germany defeated Uruguay 3–2 to claim third place at the World Cup for the second successive time after also finishing third at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In the 19th minute, Bastian Schweinsteiger managed to take a shot towards the goal, which Muslera rebounded towards the onrushing Thomas Müller. Uruguay forced their way back into the match after Luis Suárez's pass put Edinson Cavani through on the left. He slid low into the far corner to put the South American side on level terms after 28 minutes. Diego Forlán then put them ahead six minutes into the second half with a beautiful side volley from the edge of the penalty box while goalkeeper Hans-Jörg Butt didn't move off his line. Marcell Jansen then scored on 56 minutes after Muslera came for Jérôme Boateng's cross but missed it right in front of Jansen, allowing him to head into an empty net. Mesut Özil took a corner in the 82nd minute, which reached a German player, bounced off him and went up to Khedira's head, who headed it in. Uruguay almost forced extra time when Forlán curled a 92nd-minute free kick onto the bar, but Germany held on to win the match. This was the eighth consecutive World Cup in which European teams finished third, stretching back to 1982. After the game, Uruguay coach Óscar Tabárez insisted that his side did not deserve to be on the losing side: "We achieved an equal game against a real power, we could have won because in the game [they] were not superior to us ... We're not that far away [from Germany's level], the route has been marked, we must learn from this." Final References External links The official 2010 host country website Germany v England | 2010 FIFA World Cup | Full Match on YouTube Knockout stage 2010 Knockout Knockout Knockout Knockout Knockout Knockout Knockout Knockout Knockout Knockout Knockout Ghana at the 2010 FIFA World Cup Japan at the 2010 FIFA World Cup Slovakia at the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Korea at the 2010 FIFA World Cup Chile at the 2010 FIFA World Cup